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By Salar Khan
Government Models; Western VS China
1 Ideology:
a. The West is a democracy-leaders are chosen based on votes.
b. China is a meritocracy-leaders are chosen based on merit. A political newbie like
Donald Trump would never be president in China; instead, all senior officials are
usually boring old men.
2 Business:
a. West: The businesses control the government (via lobbying). This makes many
Western nations more like an oligarchy than a democracy.
b. China: The government controls the businesses (state capitalism).
3 Strategic Sectors:
a. West: Most companies in strategic sectors are private.
b. China: All companies in strategic sectors are SOEs. Elsewhere, private companies
are common.
4 Media:
a. West: Media has bias and lies, but at least it usually has freedom of speech.
b. China: Media has bias and censorship, but at least it rarely lies. (Censorship or
omission is neutral, not lying. If I stay slient when asked a question, I’m being
neither honest nor lying.)
5 Propaganda:
a. West: Media and politicians say what you want to hear.
b. China: Media and politicians say what they want you to hear.
6 Infrastructure:
a. West: Demand and usefulness for infrastructure must be calculated beforehand.
b. China: “Build it and they will come.”
7 Judicial System Bias:
a. West: More bias favoring the rich, big business, whites, and females.
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b. China: Pro-government bias. And prosecutors are more risk-averse, only taking
cases they are confident in, resulting in a 99% conviction rate. (Japan and South
Korea are similar.)
8 Intellectual Property:
a. West: “Everyone respect it!”
b. China: “Steal what? Also, your company might have to share key technology with
us to do business here.”
9 Genome Editing:
a. West: “I’m not too sure about this. It seems dangerous and we shouldn’t ‘play god’
to offend religion and mess with nature.”
b. China: “Wow, this is amazing! Its a whole new industry! Imagine the science and
money behind this! Let’s subsidize it!”
10 Property Rights:
a. West: “No, its fine. We won’t build this freeway or bridge on your land if you don’t
want us to.” (Unless its eminent domain.)
b. China: “Sorry, but you must relocate. We must build it for the greater good. Don’t
worry, we’ll compensate you.”
11 Planning:
a. West: Politicians only care about the next election.
b. China: Politicians have loooooooooooong term plans.
12 Decision-makers:
a. West: The people are always right. Give them power (democracy).
b. China: The experts are always right. Give them power (meritocracy).
13 Decision-making:
a. West: “Let’s debate. YOUR opinion matters.”
b. China: “Let’s produce results. Efficiency matters. No time to debate.”
14 Foreign Policy:
a. West: “You MUST adopt our ideology.” (Unless you’re a GCC state with lots of oil.)
b. China: “We don’t discriminate based on ideology, let’s just trade.” (Unless its
something that meddles with internal politics and defense.)
15 Neo-Imperialism:
a. West: “OMG, Chinese infrastructure loans in developing nations is neo-
imperialism!”
b. China: “OMG, the West interfering with developing nations’ internal affairs and
invading them is neo-imperialism!”
16 International Law:
a. West: “We follow it best, so we are never the bad guys! Everyone needs to be
more like us!”
b. China: “Not fair! These laws are rigged, it has pro-Western bias! Don’t you dare
impose it on us!”
17 Resentment:
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a. West: “Everyone else’s culture, religion, ideology, morals, work ethics, etc. is
inferior. Keep them out of our borders and don’t let their nation surpass us!”
b. China: “The West and Japan has bullied us for too long. Don’t let it happen again!”
18 Finger-pointing:
a. West: “You are so evil because you aren’t democratic!”
b. China: “You are so evil because you keep interfering with my internal affairs!”
Western media “Shit-chain” (#4). For the Chinese version, just delete ‘Corporations’:

Thank You!